Speedbird 2276 heavy wind three six zero at five runway seven left at alpha East, cleared for take-off
Cleared for takeoff zero seven left
Speedbird 2276 HEAVY
Dear friends and followers,
welcome back to my channel and to a great ATC related video as many of you have questioned,
Why do pilots say heavy at the end of their call sign as you just heard in the intro and what the heavy
callsign has to do with roof tiles. So let's get started. [music].
Now I'm pretty sure many of you have seen airplanes approaching airports all lined up like pearls on a necklace
Coming in one by one. Now,
they seem to be all flying in a safe distance from each other as this is the work of the approach
controller. Now he makes sure that the airplanes have enough separation from each other by vectoring them with given headings and
controlling their speed onto the instrument landing system.
Now the planes land as such that they have
enough time to vacate the runway at the suitable taxiway before the next plane comes to land.
Now as you can see here in this video an Airbus
A320 is just landing and you can already spot the next airplane, a Boeing 777, right behind it.
But the reason for this separation is not just the time to vacate the runway,
actually the primary reason is wake turbulence avoidance.
So what is a wake turbulence? Now, a wake turbulence or wing vortex occurs when wing is generating lift.
Now, if air below the wing is drawn around the wingtip into the region above the wing
by the lower pressure on the upper side of the wing
Causing a vortex to trail from each wingtip. Now the strength of the wingtip vortex is
determined primarily by the weight the
airspeed and the angle of attack of the aircraft. Now the higher the angle of attack and the
heavier the plane, the stronger the wake turbulence becomes. Now this short video here perfectly shows the generation of wake turbulence
but keep in mind this is only an ultralight airplane with a maximum weight of roughly 450 kilos,
but it's impressive how quickly the wakes appear. So imagine the wake turbulence a Boeing 747
generates with a maximum landing weight of 302 tonnes and wake turbulence are a
serious threat for the preceding plane.
Nasty down drafts and sudden excessive roll rates get the plane in an upset state
you do not want to experience on short final as a pilot or as a passenger.
Numerous testing has shown that wingtip vortices have an estimate sink rate of
400 feet per minute and come to rest at 800 feet below the airplane's flight path
where it is considered safe to fly across the dissipating wake.
So let's determine the minimum separation needed between two Airbus A320's
now we are definitely going to need two minutes and that is the time it takes to wake to descend 800 feet and
Two minutes at an average approach speed of 130 knots results in
4.3 nautical miles minimum separation distance now at 64.5 times maximum landing weight the
A320 is not the heaviest aircraft out there. So the ICAO came up with the wake turbulence
Weight categories now write this down because these numbers will be in your HPL exam.
Category L is for light weight - So any plane up to 7 tons or less.
category M for medium is for 7 tonnes up to a hundred and thirty six tons and
Anything heavier than that is categorized as heavy, but as usual there is an exception
So listen to the ATC call of my dear friend Paulo Alexander
Bukarest control, very good morning Quatar 13VP "SUPER" at level 390
As he flies the Airbus A380 ICAO had to introduce a new category for aircrafts with a take of weight up to
560 tonnes named
Super, so as mentioned a minute ago
the heavier the plane the larger and more intense the wakes are the more
separation is needed between the planes. Now if we come back to our first video you see the British Airways 777 has just landed
categorized as heavy followed by a medium category Airbus A320 now you can see there's a
significant larger gap between both airplanes and as ICAO regulates if a medium follows a heavy aircraft
Their minimum separation has to be 5 nautical miles now
This can go up to 8 nautical miles for instances a light aircraft like a Cessna Caravan follows an Airbus
A380. But if a heavy aircraft follows a lighter aircraft
they aren't affected as much by the wake due to the
Actual heavier weight and are safe at a distance of 4 nautical miles.
But it's not just the ATC controllers responsibility to vector you accordingly
you as a pilot have to keep the necessary distance in order to not get into the wake turbulence of the
preceding aircraft.
But how do you know as the pilot? What type of plane is ahead of you?
And this brings us to the main question of the video. That's the reason why
pilots flying airplanes categorized as heavy creating the more severe turbulence
mentioned their category at the end of their call sign
So as a pilot, you should pay close attention who you following
Especially when intercepting the ILS at the lower altitude than your preceding airplane and wakes aren't just a threat during
landing; a similar procedure applies during takeoff now very often
you can see a heavy Airbus A330
departing and then a smaller Boeing
737 or Airbus A320 wait on the runway for their takeoff clearance and the waiting period is a
safety measure to let the wake turbulence
dissipate before the lighter aircraft commences takeoff. Now you say that's not true
I've seen turbo props rolling down a runway right after a heavy has taken off.
Yes, that's true this can happen but there's something very important to keep in mind
Wake turbulence as mentioned before are first
Generated when the plane rotates meaning creating lifts over the wing
so if the turboprop pilot closely monitored the lift of point of the preceding plane and
Knows his takeoff roll will be shorter
He can immediately commence takeoff as he will fly over the flight path and wakes of the preceding plane also
During cruise flying through the contrail of an aircraft can get very turbulent
So avoid flying through those especially with passengers in point
Now these strong rotors upon landing are no joke
They are so powerful that houses close to airports have to have special roof tiles as in the past
They have caused many damages
Especially if you're in flight school and feel the need to fly to a big international
Airport for a low approach with your little Cessna and besides the tower control that will warn you about the wakes. Keep a safe distance
Because getting flipped over by a wake isn't cool at all. And if it doesn't feel safe you can ♫ always
Go around ♫ also be aware of hovering helicopters in the vicinity of the runway
There wakes can be as powerful as a medium categorized aircraft. And by the way speaking of flight school
Have we ever thought why a glider plane always flies a little higher than its preceding tow plane
Think about it and as always Concord had her own rules
although Concorde fell into the category of a medium-weight
Aircraft due to her excessive angle of attack upon landing
Her delta wing created wake turbulence as strong and as dangerous as the ones of a jumbo and therefore the pilots had to say
speedbird Concorde too heavy!
God, I miss this plane
That's it for today
Thank you very much for your time, before make a touch and go up Instagram account and mention your wake category.
Hit the subscribe button and notification bell and don't forget a good pilot is always learning. See you next week. Wish me over and out, your Captain Joe.
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